Movies: Past, present and future

Is Brett Ratner out of his Academy Awards producing gig?

November 8, 2011 | 3:58pm

The fallout from Brett Ratner's gay slur continues as sources say many gay members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences are putting pressure on president Tom Sherak and chief executive Dawn Hudson to fire the director from his producing duties for the upcoming Academy Awards.

One person close to the academy, who asked not to be identified by name, said the writers' meetings for the show that were scheduled for today and Wednesday had been postponed. The academy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ratner's boorish behavior has been a significant part of his character for years. Last weekend, during a Q&A session promoting his new movie, "Tower Heist," he said, "Rehearsal is for fags." Ratner later apologized, and Sherak accepted his apology, saying: "This won't and can't happen again. This won't happen again." But that seems to have not quelled the outrage of the membership.